PKI

Public key infrastructure: certificate authorities, their roots and the rules by which certificates are issued, checked and revoked.

Explained in

Plug & Charge · Stop 04Who issues the certificates?Root certificate authorities, providers, manufacturers and operators: the public key infrastructure behind Plug & Charge, and why several roots have to trust each other.

There is not one single root for Plug & Charge. CharIN, the industry association behind the combined charging system, does not operate PKI systems itself; it handed its V2G PKI root to Irdeto for operation in 2024 and coordinates the governance of a multi-PKI architecture for Europe, including work with the PKI subgroup of the EU Sustainable Transport Forum in 2025.

From “Several roots, one market”, stop 04
  1. Plug & ChargeThe car identifies itself with a certificate when plugged in, so no card or app is needed.
  2. V2GVehicle to grid: the car feeds energy into the public grid, usually through an aggregator or supplier.
  3. Trust listA list of root authorities that cars and chargers accept, so certificate chains from different authorities work together.
  1. CharIN: Plug & Charge at CharIN: standardised and interoperable. https://www.charin.global/technology/plug-charge/. Checked 09 Oct 2026.